TOKYO: Around 80 percent of nursing staff working at medical and other institutions across Japan are fearful of getting infected with the novel coronavirus, a survey has shown.

The online survey, conducted by the Japanese Nursing Association on its members last autumn, obtained answers from around 5,100 members, with the response rate standing at 34.0 percent. The average age of respondents came to 41.3 and women accounted for 93.5 percent of all respondents. Of the respondents, 86.6 percent were nurses, while the rest were made up of midwives, public health nurses and others.

The first COVID-19 infection case in Japan was confirmed in January 2020.

With multiple answers allowed, the survey asked the respondents to look back on the period between March 2020 and September 2021 and assess the effects of the spread of the coronavirus.

Those who cited fears and anxiety about contracting COVID-19 accounted for 78.6 percent of all respondents, while 48.8 percent said they felt their work environment had deteriorated.

The survey also showed that 19.6 percent said they had experienced discrimination or prejudice against them. The proportion of respondents who gave such answers was higher among those who were directly involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Furthermore, 64.5 percent said they were unable to feel a sense of fulfillment or enjoyment in their daily lives at the time of the survey, when compared with how they were in and before March 2020.

A total of 56.8 percent said they felt tired all the time. Nearly 50 percent of the respondents said they either felt anxious or irritated.

While almost 70 percent of all respondents said they wanted to continue to work as a nursing staff member, the proportion of those who gave the same answer among respondents in their 20s came to only 55.6 percent.

“We believe that the protracted COVID-19 response has caused a long-term damage on the health conditions” of nursing staff, the association said, adding, “We’d like to work on creating an environment that would allow staff members to continue working, based on the results of the survey.”

JIJI Press